What the Reader Learned
by Allura99
Summary: Though they didn't know it, they each had told her their stories.
1. Prologue: River

Prologue: River

* * *

Author's Note: This story takes the movie _Serenity_ into account. If you haven't seen it, you may want to wait to read this story.

* * *

Mirror mirror on the wall, 

silent spectator of the sins of all,

see the rise, watch the fall,

O mirror of the ages on the wall.

–Kshitij Sharma

* * *

The first few months on _Serenity_ were hard. 

She and her brother were fugitives from the powerful Alliance government. The two of them had fallen in with a group of smugglers who seemed like magnets for trouble on their own. And for a while, it was uncertain if they could stay on the ship.

But it was also the first time that she had been forced to be in close proximity with a group of people after her escape. The onslaught of thoughts and emotions had hit her like a tidal wave. For a while, it made her actually worse.

She always wondered if Simon had noticed a difference. But she never asked him, afraid of his answer. If he answered no, it was telling about how bad her mental state was at that time.

As bad as it was, there were moments when she knew herself. From time to time, the whispering voices and chaotic images faded to a manageable level. The thoughts going through her head then were hers and hers alone. These periods were longer and more frequent after the events of Miranda.

Yet she still had episodes and relapses. Simon often wondered privately if she would only be this way. He was afraid she would carry this as a permanent scar of her time in the Alliance facility.

If she was honest, she was, too.

It had taken time for her to get use to this ship and its crew. It took her a while to filter through all the thoughts and emotions. But after a while, it all began to make sense.

Though they didn't know it, they each had told her their stories.


	2. Part 1: Simon

Part 1: Simon

* * *

He wished he could say that when they first met, he was as taken with Kaylee as she was with him. However, he had found her infatuation with him annoying. It brought too attention to him when he desperately wanted to be anonymous. Especially from the big one preposterously named Jayne.

His main goal had been to protect River. He had risked everything to get her away from the Alliance. He would do anything to keep her safe.

Even if that had meant letting Kaylee die.

At the time, it had been his best option. He had seen how the crew treated her in the short time he had been aboard the ship. He had taken the gamble that the crew, particularly its captain, would do anything to save her.

Like he would do anything to save River.

He wasn't proud of a lot of his actions out here. He had fallen among smugglers and become a thief himself. He had let men die in his presence. He had risked others and their safety. All in the name of keeping River safe.

Maybe that's why he clung so much to his manners. To remind himself of who he once was. Of who he hoped to be once again.

Yet, with Kaylee, he found himself not caring about that.

Of course, it took them almost dying for him to seize what had been waiting for him so long. To be so smart, he could be so dense, she had told him as she took him to her bed. He was very grateful for her patience but he was more appreciative of her tutelage.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of light feet outside his infirmary. He glanced up and saw his sister by the door. River had a sly smile as she entered his space.

"Hello, mei-mei," he greeted. He left the supplies on the counter and turned to her. "What are you doing?"

"Listening?"

"To what? The ship?"

Her smile grew. "To racy, racy thoughts going through heads."

Just as quickly as she appeared, River was gone. Leaving an abashed Simon standing in the center of his infirmary.


	3. Part 2: Kaylee

Part 2: Kaylee

"I found her kissing that Crowley boy behind the barn today."

Kaylee immediately crouched on the stairs, thankful that the old wood didn't groan and give her away. She could make out Gran in the kitchen, weathered hands on her hips as waited for a reply. Her father gave a non-committal grunt and took a swig of his beer.

"Don't you grunt at me, Edgar Fry," Gran continued in full lecture mode. "I know your mama raised you better than that. And speaking of mamas, my dear Melinda would be turning in her grave if she knew her daughter was behaving this way. Not two days ago I caught her with the Delgado boy. She's running around like some unchoosey floozy."

Kaylee felt her cheeks burned. Was she really running around like a floozy? All she had been doing was kissing. She had stopped Frank Delgado when his hands got too frisky and Ian Crowley was just so cute when she gave her that slow grin of his.

She jumped when something slammed against the table. Gran had jumped as well. She was now closer to the sink and further out of her line of vision.

"Do not ever speak of Kaywinnit that way again," her father ordered, his quiet voice stern. "Do you understand me, Agatha?"

The kitchen, the entire house was silent. Kaylee scarcely breathed.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Gran replied curtly.

"Good."

"But still something must be done about her behavior," Gran pressed. "She can't keep running wild, Edgar."

"I know." He sighed as he leaned back into his chair. "I guess she can start coming to the shop."

"The shop?"

"Can you think of a better place for her?"

"No," Gran admitted. "Well, eat up, Edgar. Your food's getting cold. And Kaylee's, too."

Kaylee quickly made her way to the top of the stairs. She waited until Gran called for her. "Coming," she called and made her way back downstairs.

With a sniffle, she pulled herself from her thoughts and traced her grandmother face on screen with a finger. Her father letter had been brief. Gran had died peacefully in her sleep and would be buried beside her daughter in the town's cemetery.

"Love you, Gran," Kaylee whispered. She pressed a kiss to the screen before turning the image off. Wiping her cheeks, she rolled over on her bunk and cried herself to sleep.

Above her, River cried as well.


	4. Part 3: Jayne

Part 3: Jayne

There was never enough of anything.

Never enough food or money. Not even enough room. He couldn't even take a piss without tripping over someone on the way to the crapper.

As soon as he could pass for sixteen, he joined a crew and left Hephaestus for good. And while his Ma hated that he was a thief and a smuggler and other things, she ain't never complained about the credits he sent home.

But it ain't like he had a lot of choices if he had stayed. He was never good at school and he refused to wind up mining like his Pa. Fightin' was the only thing he was good at.

He paused. He wondered how to finish the letter to his Ma. She didn't need to know anything about Miranda. He was doin' his best to forget about almost dyin'.

Instead, he thanked her again for his hat. He hoped that Molly and her new baby were doin' good. And of course, he was sending home some credits. He was going to write again real soon.

He folded the letter and put it in an envelope. He didn't know when Mal would dare to stop on a piece of rock civilized enough to have a postal franchise. But he would have to wait until then to mail it.

* * * * *

River sighed as leaned back in the pilot's seat. The mercenary was not one of her favorites on the crew. But she truly envied him his letter to home.


	5. Part 4: Zoe

Part 4: Zoe

When they first met, something about him bothered her.

When Mal asked her about it, she couldn't put her finger on it. It took her a few days to realize that she was waiting. For that laid-back, joking exterior had to be a facade. Any moment he would become the typical arrogant, condescending pilot like every other pilot she had ever met.

But it never happened.

Not that he wasn't a good pilot. He was. Mal hadn't lied about his long list of references.

He treated everyone well from the captain to a peddler in the street. He brought laughter to Serenity. And it was good to see Mal laugh again.

She grew use to him. It became hard to remember the ship without him on the bridge. But when he began to seek her out more than the others, she did her best to ignore it.

She expected him to up the ante. He was suppose to brag about all his exploits in a desperate bid to impress her. She knew that the arrogant pilot was in there under all those jokes. Instead he bought her a comb for her hair.

Marrying him had been one of the few orders from Mal she had ever disobeyed. It had been worth it. Even for the short time they had together.

With a sigh, she sat on their bed. She had hoped against hope that she could be carrying his child, to have some part of him still with her. But fate had deprived her of even that.

* * * * *

On the bridge, River glanced over at the dinosaurs. No one had dared to move them. The stegosaurus had fallen. With a shaking hand, she righted it.


	6. Part 5: Inara

Part 5: Inara

She pressed her lips together as she noticed the slight tremor in her hand. The tea poured steadily in the cup and she doubted that anyone would have noticed. But she was still grateful that she was alone in her shuttle.

She was getting worse. The medicine that she had smuggled out of Sihnon was no longer controlling the tremors. If she increased the dose, she would be completely out in a matter of weeks rather than months as she had planned.

She doubted that they would be stopping on any civilized planet any time soon. She would even settle for Whitefall. However, Mal was only accepting jobs that kept them on the Rim and well away from any possible encounter with the Alliance.

She didn't blame him. The events on Miranda had shaken them all. The only good things that had happened there was the River had gained some sanity and the Alliance seemed to lose interest in her. At least for now.

Miranda had also strengthened her resolve to live. Oh, she that the disease would eventually kill her. She had no illusions about that. But she would fight for more time every way she could.

With a sigh, she set the teapot aside. She wondered how long she could continue to hide her symptoms. She had left Sihnon to keep her secret. How long would it be before Simon or even Mal would become suspicious?

What would she do then? For someone would notice her shakes sooner or later. Leave? Stay? Would they even let her stay?

She tried to ignore the tremor still present in her hand as she raised the cup to her lips. The herbs would help augment her medication for now. Soon she would have to decide when she would go to Simon for help.

* * * * *

To the others, River seemed absorbed in the ball game in the cargo bay below her. After all, Jayne was taking great pleasure in dominating her brother. She called an instruction to her brother and tried not to smirk as Simon scored. But her thoughts continued to stray to the woman in the shuttle behind her.


	7. Part 6: Mal

Part 6: Mal

* * *

The wind carried the scent of ash and death. It was a stark contradiction to the sunny summer day. As he slowed the horse to a trot, he realized his life seemed full of contradictions these days.

"They had no warning," Gus Harding, the old sheriff, stated. "We found most of the hands still in the fields. A few made it to the Campbells' place but the bastards were there, too."

Mal kept his gaze steady on the charred remains of his birthplace. "And Ma?"

"We found her on the front steps. She had taken at least six of them down to give Mrs. Hernandez enough time to get the house girls down into the hidden cellar. They got out through the tunnel before the whole place burned down.

"Your mother, Elizabeth, was a great woman, Mal. Because of her, this wasn't a complete massacre. You should be proud."

Mal swallowed hard but his voice still came out husky. "I am."

His mother had managed to hang on to the farm after his father died in a field accident. She had fought off raiders, thieves, corrupt Alliance tax collectors and more than her fair share of suitors. "This land is your inheritance, Malcolm," she had told him time and time again. "Your father wanted to pass it down to his son and you will pass it down to yours some day."

Mal dismounted and tied his horse's reins to the remains of a fence. He walked toward the ashes and stopped when his boots hit something metal. He brushed away the ashes and realized that it was an old horseshoe. It had hung over the main door of the house to give good luck. It looked like its luck had run out.

"I know that this may be a little soon," Sheriff Harding began, "but Bill Lopez is interested in buying the place."

Mal studied the rusty horseshoe in his hand. He closed his fist around it as he made his decision. "Tell Bill to name his price."

* * *

Mal woke up from the dream with a start. He stared up at the ceiling, wondering why he had dreamed of home. He hadn't been back to Shadow since there was nothing to go back to.

Realizing that he wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon, he got out of bed and threw on some clothes. He touched the old rusty horseshoe over the stairs out of habit as he headed toward the bridge.

The ship was quiet but there were lights on the bridge. He wasn't surprised to find River there. "Hello, little albatross."

She turned around in the pilot's chair with a smile as if she was expecting him. And maybe she was. The girl was a reader after all.

He noticed the sketchbook in her lap. It was open to a scene of horses running while a Firefly flew over their heads. "That's pretty good."

"The perspective keeps shifting," River stated with a frown as she studied the drawing. "Angles are off and the shadowing is inconsistent."

"Still looks good to me." That earned him a smile. He sat down in the co-pilot's chair. "So, how far to Persephone?"

"We'll be there by morning." She cracked a grin. "Hours earlier than Badger's expecting."

Mal chuckled as he leaned back to study the stars.


	8. Epilogue: Serenity

Epilogue: Serenity

* * *

Serenity was mourning.

Her laughter had departed with her pilot. Her soul was aimless with the loss of the Shepherd. She watched as her remaining crew struggled with the aftermath of Miranda.

River wasn't the only one to sense it. Kaylee had mentioned at breakfast that she had noticed that the engine was running half-heartedly. However, the mechanic blamed it on the ever faulty compression coil.

But they would get through this. Though they all were so different, they had become a family. Serenity had become home.

River smiled as she thought about the blanket she was crocheting. Their little family was about to get bigger. Simon and Kaylee just didn't know it yet.

Soon their mourning would turn into joy.


End file.
